King Among Flowers, Monarch Overlooking All Fragrance (1)

Group battles were after all chaotic, making it very difficult to see things clearly. And different from the qualifiers, each student would be revealing their own strength under the gazes of all the spectators. This was also the best opportunity to evaluate the strength of the Spirit Masters.

The edges of the great drill grounds were completely surrounded by ten thousand imperial household knights, forming a watertight encirclement, helmets bright and armor shining. The front row of knights stood, while the back rows were mounted.

This kind of strict defense could be called watertight. Of course, just like Tang San suspected, emperor Xue Ye's goal was to let his most elite subordinate knights take a look at the strength of the new generation of Spirit Masters, using this to ignite their fighting spirit.

Between the great circle of knights and the competition ground, fifteen competing teams were finally arranged. Even the team that could rest today was no exception. Even if they didn't compete, they still had to gauge the strength of the opponents.

The rules were very simple. Both sides would each participate with seven team members. Each team that went up would fight until defeated, continuing to fight the next opponent if they won, until the seven people on one side were completely defeated.

The lots had already been drawn last evening, and Shrek Academy didn't pull an empty lot for their first round. Their opponent was an advanced Spirit Master academy from Balak Kingdom. Their turn was the third in the seven matches for today.

The different areas were sorted so teams were grouped by their qualifiers. Tang San naturally saw the familiar rivals of the four elemental academies, and as they looked towards Shrek Academy, several people's gazes fell on Tang San.

Those included Godwind Academy team captain Feng Xiaotian, Blazing Academy siblings Huo Wushuang and Huo Wu, Skywater Academy team captain Shui Bing-Er, as well as the Thunderclap Academy team captain Tang San had never seen before, a youth with ordinary build and unremarkable appearance.

Grandmaster gathered everyone around him, his gaze sweeping across all the eleven Shrek Academy team members,

"Next I'll announce the order in which you'll go up. Xiao Wu, you go up first, after is Tang San, and Dai Mubai."

Everyone were still listening, but Grandmaster had already finished.

Dai Mubai couldn't help asking:

"Grandmaster, aren't we going to send seven people?"

Grandmaster smiled calmly, saying:

"Don't tell me the three of you don't have the confidence to end the match? Even though the opponents of the ranking competition are a bit powerful, they still won't be stronger than the four elemental academies. One on one doesn't need any teamwork, only strength."

That simple sentence immediately roused the fighting spirit of the Shrek Academy team. Tang San, Dai Mubai and Xiao Wu all looked at each other, and in each other's eyes they could all see conviction of certain victory.

Emperor Xue Ye stood from the VIP seats, speaking through a spirit tool:

"The ranking competition formally begins today. I hope all the academy teams will be able to amply display their strength in the next fourteen days, displaying the proper elegance of Spirit Masters. Begin."

As his words fell, shouts just like a landslide or tsunami resounded,

"Long live, long live, long live!"

The imperial household knights raised the lances in their hands, the sounds of their armor resonating with their voices, immediately startling the competing Spirit Masters. Undoubtedly the manifestation of a great nation's bearing.

The first match began. Awesomely, first to appear was Blazing Academy. Their opponents was a team known as Fabia Academy.

The first to represent Blazing Academy was the team captain, Huo Wushuang. Clearly, Blazing Academy's teacher thought much like Grandmaster. Not only would they win this first match, but also strike a large score.

In the final ranking of the ranking competition, besides the match points, individual fight victories were also important. If there was a tie in matches, the ranking would be arranged according to fights.

Tang San didn't pay any attention the the match, but stood next to Xiao Wu, saying to her in a low voice:

"You'll go first in our match later. If you find yourself restrained by the opponent, don't force yourself. You can't be injured, understand?"

Tang San had originally thought he would go up first, but hadn't expected Grandmaster would send Xiao Wu. Unable to oppose it, he could only give Xiao Wu a few cautioning words.

Xiao Wu smiled calmly, pinching Tang San's hand, saying:

"Don't worry. Are you still uneasy about my one on one capability? If I can't win, I'll concede."

Tang San stroked her head,

"Caution sails a ship for ten thousand years. Our opponents will get stronger and stronger, we can't be careless."

The matches proceeded very quickly. Between Spirit Masters, if there was a gap in strength, the result would often be settled in an instant. The one with more powerful spirit abilities, with higher spirit power, would easily defeat their opponent. People with spirit bones were, after all, very few.

In one on one matches it was also impossible for something like spirit fusion ability to appear. Everything had to rely on one's own strength.

In the first match, Huo Wushuang successively defeated three people, then lost the next match after substantially consuming his spirit power.

The continuous battles didn't give time to rest. This was another area where the ranking competition was more interesting than the qualifiers, it didn't just test the strength of each member of the team, at the same time tactics and planning were extremely important. Even the most powerful Spirit Masters would find it difficult to consecutively defeat opponents by themselves.

After all, the more powerful the spirit ability, the more it limited spirit power.

The second to represent Blazing Academy was Huo Wu. It seemed that her expression was somewhat calmer than in the qualifiers, moving with the force of fifteen tons of thunder. Even though she was a girl, she gave the opponents enormous pressure in each fight. Judging by her appearance, this didn't seem to be a match, but more like life and death.

Relying on the advantages of a control system Spirit Master, Huo Wu unexpectedly successively defeated four people, the two siblings directly smashing the Fabia team.

When Huo Wu returned from the competition area, her physical strength was already somewhat overdrawn due to consuming a large amount of spirit power, but her pale charming face was still brimming with pride, her gaze fixed on Tang San without flinching, and she moreover extended a forefinger, pointing at him.

Confronted with Huo Wu's provocation, Tang San only wrinkled his eyebrows and didn't express anything.

Because of Huo Wu's gesture, a lot of Spirit Masters from other kingdoms and duchies now paid attention to him.

Huo Wu had indeed become strong. Even though only one month had passed, that oppressive strength of hers had clearly grown a lot stronger, and her burst power was even more astonishing. It seemed that she really had worked hard in the past month.

Among all the fifteen competing teams, Fabia Academy was one of the weakest, but having easily defeated them by sending only two people, Blazing Academy had still put themselves in the spotlight among the competing academies.

The second match featured two teams Tang San wasn't particularly familiar with, however, among these strangers, he still saw one acquaintance.

A simple uniform drawing the outline of a perfect figure, a solid and slender serpent staff held crosswise. It was the Unrivalled Dragon Serpent's granddaughter, who originally fought Tang San over his third spirit ring, Meng Yiran.

Meng Yiran appeared on the competition ground as the vice captain of Cryptid Academy's team, in high spirits.

As the first tool Spirit Master to appear, she completely displayed the superiority of a tool Spirit Master.

Even though tool Spirit Masters didn't have the burst power of a beast Spirit Master, tool Spirit Masters won out in battle endurance. Relying on the extremely toxic serpent staff and her changeable severe attack methods, she unexpectedly also successively defeated three people.

Making Tang San not know whether to laugh or cry, as Meng Yiran walked off the competition ground, her gaze unexpectedly also fell on him, and she simultaneously imitated Huo Wu's gesture to hold out a hand and point at him.

Meng Yiran had originally noticed him when Huo Wu pointed him out. This wasn't only a demonstration towards him, but also a challenge.

Sensing the gazes of numerous Spirit Master students fix on him, Tang San could only stand there helplessly. Even Oscar couldn't keep from snickering to the side:

"Little San, it seems you've really offended a lot of beautiful women. If you also add that Skywater Academy's Shui Bing-Er, you're going to have a lot of people as your enemies. You tell me, won't the students of other academies think you've discarded the two of them after playing around, turning love into hate?"

Tang San unhappily glared at Oscar,

"Little Ao, I feel it would be relatively suitable to let you go up for a match, how about I propose it to Teacher?"

"Eh…..."

Oscar hastily smiled:

"Little San, we're good brothers! Big brother is an auxiliary system Spirit Master, it's still better to leave a difficult challenge like the ranking competition to you. You also don't want our Shrek Academ to lose face because of me."

While they chatted, the situation in the match had already started to change somewhat. Even though Cryptid Academy had Meng Yiran's three victories, the other students of their academy clearly weren't as powerful as her, and the opponents wore through four people. In the end the match finished with a close victory for Cryptid Academy after ten fights.

From the previous two matches, Tang San could already see that the kingdom and duchy academies still had a certain gap in strength to the five elemental academies.

There was at most only one fortieth ranked Spirit Master among the three academies that had already appeared, while the majority were thirty something ranked. Like Meng Yiran, whose spirit power was presently only at the thirty seventh rank or so.

This suggested that the fight over the final ranking of the competition should be between the five teams from Heaven Dou City.